Unpopular opinions go here

[mamba]

Without the Demihumans, D&D loses much of its fantasy appeal and much of the average players' ability to excuse the violence endemic to D&D adventures.

no it doesn't, on both counts. You still have plenty of fantasy races that offer support for ether

 

[overgeeked]

OSR games are spectacular at replicating the worlds of Appendix N material.

OSR games are terrible at replicating the main characters of Appendix N material.

Lair of the Leopard Empresses (Monsters! Monsters!) does both incredibly well.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Ducks are the best thing about Glorantha.

This is the thread for unpopular opinions, Jack.

 

[Lanefan]

“Keep it simple” is bad advice as often as it’s good advice, and “start with a town and build the rest during play” is terrible advice for new DMs. I’d have an easier time doing that with years of experience DMing, than I would have the first time, and most people learn to swim just fine if you put them in the damn pool. No one learns to swim with just their feet in the pool. Likewise, just let new DMs jump into the deep end. I have never seen a single DM burn out from doing so.

Maybe not burn out as such, but over the years I've certainly seen some prospective DMs drown rather than swim when chucked in (or when they chucked themselves in) to the deep end; with their campaigns collapsing after just a few sessions either because the DM simply didn't have what it took, or because the players weren't happy with how things were going, or both.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Maybe not burn out as such, but over the years I've certainly seen some prospective DMs drown rather than swim when chucked in (or when they chucked themselves in) to the deep end; with their campaigns collapsing after just a few sessions either because the DM simply didn't have what it took, or because the players weren't happy with how things were going, or both.

Are you saying they failed specifically because they ignored the “Hommlet advice” I referenced? That is, the advice to start with one town and figure out the rest of the world during play.

 

[Reynard]

Are you saying they failed specifically because they ignored the “Hommlet advice” I referenced? That is, the advice to start with one town and figure out the rest of the world during play.

I think that town and dungeon is the only way for a beginning GM to manage it. That's why they did it in B/X and BECMI.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

There is no point where using the oxford comma is going to be unclear. There are a huge number of cases where not using it causes clarity loss. Therefore It shouldn't be optional.

I adore the Oxford comma, but, every time I think about insisting it should be used everywhere, I think about the later works of Henry James, where his use of commas is both grammatically correct and an actual impediment to understanding the work.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think that town and dungeon is the only way for a beginning GM to manage it. That's why they did it in B/X and BECMI.

My experience is that new GMs that don’t want to do that don’t need that at all, and do great going the direction they want to go.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

My experience is that new GMs that don’t want to do that don’t need that at all, and do great going the direction they want to go.

Yeah, there's a lot of ways that successful GMs start their careers. There is no one size fits all answer.

"You have to start with a village and a nearby dungeon" is the gaming equivalent of the Oxford comma. It's safe, but not nearly as mandatory as some would have you believe.

 

[Lanefan]

Are you saying they failed specifically because they ignored the “Hommlet advice” I referenced? That is, the advice to start with one town and figure out the rest of the world during play.

No, I'm saying they failed becuase diving straight into the deep end - for which you were advocating - isn't for everyone.